{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,15]],"date-time":"2026-05-15T05:10:16Z","timestamp":1778821816805,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,1]],"date-time":"2022-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1643673600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004663","name":"Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MOST 107-2314-B-182A-111-"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MOST 107-2314-B-182A-111-"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Screening and linkage to care are essential to achieve viral hepatitis elimination before 2030. The accurate identification of endemic areas is important for controlling diseases with geographic aggregation. Viral activity drives prognosis of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infection. This screening was conducted in Chiayi County from 2018\u20132019. All residents aged 30 years or older were invited to participate in quantitative HBsAg (qHBsAg) and HCV Ag screening. Among the 4010 participants (male:female = 1630:2380), the prevalence of qHBsAg and HCV Ag was 9.9% (396\/4010) and 4.1% (163\/4010), respectively. High-prevalence townships were identified, three for qHBsAg &gt; 15% and two for HCV Ag &gt; 10%. The age-specific prevalence of qHBsAg was distributed in an inverse U-shape with a peak (16.0%, 68\/424) for subjects in their 40 s; for HCV, prevalence increased with age. Concentrations of qHBsAg &lt; 200 IU\/mL were found in 54% (214\/396) of carriers. The rate of oral antiviral treatment for HCV was 75.5% (114\/151), with subjects younger than 75 years tending to undergo treatment (85.6% vs. 57.4%, p &lt; 0.001). QHBsAg and HCV Ag core antigens can reflect the concentration of the viral load, which serves as a feasible screening tool. Using quantitative antigen screening for hepatitis B and C in community-based screening, two hyperendemic townships were identified from an endemic county.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v14020304","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,1]],"date-time":"2022-02-01T22:16:18Z","timestamp":1643753778000},"page":"304","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Community-Based Screening for Hepatitis B and C Infectivity Using Two Quantitative Antigens to Identify Endemic Townships"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Wei-Cheng","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geriatric, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Chiayi Branch, Puzi 61363, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833253, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yu-Chen","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chiayi County Health Bureau, Taibao 60044, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1204-3027","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Po-Ju","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833253, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nien-Tzu","family":"Hsu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biostatistics Center, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833253, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chia-Ling","family":"Tu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Chiayi Branch, Puzi 61363, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1581-6948","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Te-Sheng","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Chiayi Branch, Puzi 61363, Taiwan"},{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333323, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chao-Hung","family":"Hung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333323, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Hepato-Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833253, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4836-4252","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kwong-Ming","family":"Kee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333323, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Hepato-Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833253, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wen-Hua","family":"Chao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chiayi County Health Bureau, Taibao 60044, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sheng-Nan","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333323, Taiwan"},{"name":"Division of Hepato-Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833253, Taiwan"},{"name":"Taiwan National Hepatitis C Program Office, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei 115204, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2021, July 22). 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